Sony expands smartwear portfolio with launch of two wearables

Global smartphone maker Sony yesterday said it had expanded its smartwear portfolio in India with the launch of two wearable devices aimed at understanding the user's movements and way of life, IANS reported.

The devices which had been developed in collaboration with Google, are powered by Android Wear, an operating system designed for smartwatches and other wearables and can be paired with a smartphone.

"After leading the market since 2007, SmartWatch 3 is Sony's latest generation SmartWatch, but the first specifically designed for the latest Android Wear updates in close collaboration with Google", it said.

"You can get messages from friends, appointment notifications, and weather updates at a glance. It could be flight information, tips based on your interests or messages of any kind, so user input is seldom necessary. But if you need to interact with Android Wear, voice is easiest way," the company said.

The other device, SmartBand Talk, a powerful "life-logger", brought call handling and voice control from the wrist with a 1.4-inch E-ink display that always stayed on.

The Indian Express reported that the SmartWatch 3 is priced at Rs19,990 while the SmartBand Talk carried a price tag of Rs12,990.

SmartWatch 3 is powered by Android Wear. One could get messages from one's friends, appointment notifications, and weather updates at a glance. The device came with a built-in microphone, and accelerometer, compass, gyro and GPS sensor technology for more accurate, more powerful lifelogging.

SmartWatch 3 sports came with a 1.6-inch 320×320 pixels TFT LCD Transflective display for visibility in bright sunlight and stainless steel back. The waterproof gadget is rated IP68 and charged via a standard microUSB port. It came with a built-in 4GB local memory and connected with a Bluetooth headset to listen.

SmartBand Talk came with a built-in microphone and speaker and featured a short call function to allow users to talk. It came with HD Voice support along with Sony's integrated Voice Control technology, which allowed users to assign their own sounds to life bookmarks and use voice to carry out specific smartphone operations.